I have worked with hundreds of elected officials over the course of my professional career. And I have been a careful observer of (and ofttimes participant in) political events and culture for four and a half decades.

Here is my take on the retiring commissioner. He was not a professional politician, but a citizen-politician in the finest American tradition. He was citizen with years of public service already under his belt in the dangerous business of human safety, who understood politics from the ground up. He was committed to the working man and woman. And he was willing to enter the fray and fight for what he felt was right. He was passionate about his goals. You always knew where he stood, even though you may not have liked it. But there was no dissembling. He had a laser-like focus in pursuing his agenda. Politics is a rough business, but I would much rather know where my opponent stood than not.

You know, we have too many cowed politicians today, afraid to do what they know is right for whatever reasons they may have. We have others who don't know how to haggle and compromise in the only way it works in a democracy. No so with Randy Leonard. I, for one, want to see more citizen-politicians rather than slick professionals.

Here's to Commissioner Randy Leonard. We need more citizens to step up into civic responsibility. Lindsay A. Desrochers Southwest Portland Desrochers is a professor in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.